Being Better Neighbors towards Latin America

“If that kind of barbarity can be directed against the highest-ranking person in the country, what will happen to the rest of us?” asked the activists at COFADEH, the Committee of Families of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras, right after the June 28th coup that sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile.  Now the answer to that question can be seen in COFADEH’s hard-hitting October 22nd report, “Statistics and Faces of Repression.”

LAWG celebrates—and I personally celebrate—that yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.Res. 761, introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern and 33 co-sponsors.  This resolution remembers and commemorates the lives and work of the six Jesuit priests and two women who were murdered in El Salvador nearly twenty years ago, on November 16, 1989.

Soon after its world premier at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, multiple awards began recognizing Crude as one the most poignant documentaries hitting theaters this year. For all of you deeply concerned about human rights violations, the displacement and destruction of indigenous cultures, increased environmental degradation, or irresponsible development by multinational corporations, Crude is being recognized as an artistic masterpiece that tells the story of the “Amazon Chernobyl” case in which all these areas of concern intertwine. The final result is the creation of a powerful message for increasing awareness among individuals of how the gas they pump has tangible effects on individuals in other parts of our world.

Despite the Micheletti government’s announced intention following international and national pressure to lift the state of siege, the notice has not yet been published in the official gazette, and rights violations continue.  The de facto government issued a new decree allowing the government’s telecommunications agency to revoke licenses for radio and television stations that transmit messages that promote “social anarchy,” ensuring that censorship can continue.  Police continued excessive use of force against protestors, and some protestors remain in detention. Meanwhile, hopes for dialogue increased as the Organization of American States negotiators arrived, but no end to the crisis is yet in sight.